That’s good, because we need help.
Scud. Sitrep?
Three more carrier ships. No planetary weapons yet, but Arturo is worried. Something about a bomb.
Oh no. What bomb?
He said he spotted a ship with a strange flight pattern.
My whole body went cold. I focused, widening my reach—
And I found the impressions again, the minds of the pilots, all flying around in what felt like disarray.
No, there was a method to it. Arturo had them divided into flanking groups and the flights were working together, though I couldn’t pinpoint the strategy at a glance. If Arturo had seen what I thought he’d seen, I didn’t have time to consider it. I found his mind flying near Alanik. As I drew closer I could feel his focus, his determination.
And his terror. He didn’t know where I was, wasn’t sure what they should do. He spotted that ship again, moving slowly in a familiar pattern he’d never wanted to see again—I could see it in his mind. We’d fought a lot of those ships in our days as cadets, though we hadn’t seen one since we’d driven the Krell away from the surface of Detritus.
It looked like a lifebuster.
Amphi? I said.
I felt Arturo startle.
Jerkface? he said. Are you in my scudding head?
Apparently, I said. You saw a lifebuster?
Yeah. It’s moving slowly like they do, but it’s headed toward Dreamspring. Kimmalyn and Nedd are keeping an eye on it.
I closed my eyes. A bomb of that size could take out the whole island, maybe more. Such an impact would have been big enough to cave in the caverns below the surface of Detritus—I didn’t want to see what it would do to the kitsen city, how far the devastation would reach.
We’d have to be very careful taking that down.
When I opened my eyes again, several of the kitsen cytonics had disappeared and the others were moving toward the exit. Juno had landed his platform and was powering up some of the floating disks that would let them reach the top library shelves, and the kitsen cytonics were boarding them.
They were going to help, but if we let a bomb hit the city that wouldn’t be enough to stop it.
I turned to the medtechs and Cuna. “Stay here,” I said. “Get Cobb on the radio the minute he’s awake.”
“Yes, sir,” Kel and Winnow said. They didn’t tell me again that he needed more rest. We all needed a lot of things we weren’t getting tonight. Survival took priority.
Juno climbed back onto his platform and hovered up to my shoulder.
“You could stay here,” I said. “It would be safer.”
“You are the Restorer of Lost Souls,” Juno said solemnly. “He Who Hearkens unto Silent Voices, Opener of Locked Doors. Where you go, I will go, shadow-walker.” He still had his platform piled high with books, and I wanted to tell him I didn’t think those would be helpful to bring, but they’d done all right for us so far.
“Okay,” I said. “Let’s go.” I put a hand on Juno’s platform and asked Snuggles to take us to my ship on the beach. I wanted to get a better picture of what was happening.
We appeared next to the wreckage of my starship, and I tried not to focus on the body that must still be lying on the sand somewhere behind me. Several kitsen ships flew down the beach, fleeing the city. None of them looked like fighters, and one was nothing more than a water tank bolted to a floating pedestal. It didn’t move as fast as the others, but it was carrying five kitsen all packed together inside. If the bomb hit, I hoped they could get far enough away, but I wasn’t sure there was any place far enough, not on this island.
The sky above the city was full of ships—Superiority, human, UrDail, and kitsen. I could feel some of the kitsen cytonics—those who could hyperjump—already moving around in the gunships above, and one shot forth a flurry of mindblades, cutting an enemy fighter to pieces. Another disappeared and then reappeared on the other side of the battlefield, catching an enemy ship with its shield down in a barrage of destructor fire. The wreckage fell from the sky.
This was good. The contributions of the kitsen cytonics would give my flight some time to deal with the lifebuster without losing ground to the Superiority. I wanted to return to Detritus for a ship, but every second counted. I leaned against the damaged fuselage as I reached out to Arturo again. How far out is that ship?
Too close, Arturo said. Hard to say without Command to run numbers, but if we bring it down I can’t guarantee it won’t destroy the city.
It must not have reached optimal placement yet, because they were still bringing it closer before detonating. I had no idea how much time we had, but if we couldn’t shoot the ship down without the risk of destroying Dreamspring, we had better work fast.